And while we're not exactly fighting for truth, we are certainly fighting over it. As in whose truth is ... true?

The fate of Alabama's immigration law? That's just a bit of it. It's just the part, this week, that brought it home.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued its long-awaited ruling on Arizona's immigration law, which is thought to be a clarifying test for Alabama's similar statute. The court tossed much of it, but not a provision that allows police to check immigration status as a routine.

"Clarity," in Alabama, came quickly. From those who love Alabama's immigration law, and those who don't.

The chorus came in the form of: Victory!

"The court's decision to uphold the real teeth of Arizona's illegal immigration law is a victory for Alabama and for all states that are fed up with the federal government's refusal to enforce the law," Alabama House Speaker and Republican front-man Rep. Mike Hubbard said.

And on the other side:

"I think the great majority of Alabama's law is just doomed," said the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mary Bauer. "It cannot stand in the wake of this decision."

Everybody wins.

Mission accomplished.

Put some cow chips on a plate, dab 'em in cheese and call 'em nachos.

It is the same response you get talking about programming on Alabama Public Television, or the coming Supreme Court decree on Obamacare, or most anything that involves politics, religion, a court finding or even scientific principle.

Conservatives have their truths. Liberals have theirs. And the facts don't seem to matter.

Because what actually happens is now secondary, extraneous and debatable. What actually happens is far less important than whether one side or the other can spin it to win it.

It makes you wonder if this debate over immigration in Alabama was ever really about immigration at all. It's about winning. Even when we lose.

It is about being right. Even when we're wrong.

We are left divided, derided and, too often without knowing all the facts, decided.

The republic cannot stand this uncertainty. In the absence of truth there are only lies.

And everybody has those, too. Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives all come armed with their own set of them, backed with lawyers, scientists and shills. Every science has its booster and every side a commentator willing to tell outsiders they are idiots if they fail to recognize facts.

I guess that's the greatest value of the Supreme Court, and it's rulings on issues such as the immigration law. The court tells us, if we dig deep enough and wait long enough, what facts matter.

The reaction to this ruling tells us even more.

That the issue is not about immigration alone. What's important, in this world, is the ability to claim victory. Whether there is a winner or not.

In a world such as that, we are all sure to lose.</rl></1cr><rr>John Archibald's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write him atjarchibald@bhamnews.com.